PRESS RELEASE:Prime Minister announces more support for workers and businesses through Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

The Government of Canada is taking strong and quick action to protect our
economy, and the health, safety, and jobs of all Canadians during the global
COVID-19 outbreak.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced a new set of economic measures to help stabilize the economy and help
Canadians affected by the impacts of this challenging period.

These measures, delivered as part
of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, will provide up
to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses, plus $55 billion to
meet liquidity needs of Canadian businesses and households through tax
deferrals to help stabilize the economy. Combined, this $82 billion in
support represents more than 3 per cent of Canada’s GDP. This wide-ranging support will help ensure
Canadians can pay for rent and groceries, and help businesses continue to pay
their employees and their bills during this time of uncertainty.

This plan builds on
coordinated action taken since the beginning of this outbreak, including the more than $1 billion COVID-19 Response Fund,
which provided funding to provinces and territories to strengthen critical health care
systems. It represents over $500 billion in credit and liquidity support for people
and businesses through cooperation between financial Crown corporations, the
Bank of Canada, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
(OSFI), and commercial lenders to ensure businesses can
continue to operate.

The actions announced today are
part of Canada’s whole-of-government response to COVID-19. As a first step,
this plan aims to stabilize our
economy through targeted measures to address immediate challenges faced by
workers and businesses alike. It will help ensure that workers have the money they
need while they are sick or in isolation, or due to loss of work or a
significant reduction in work income, and help support people and businesses
experiencing financial hardship because of the outbreak.

Canadians should not make health decisions based on
their financial needs. As the situation
continues to evolve, further measures will be announced to support Canadians, stimulate
the economy, and protect peoples’ jobs and livelihoods..

Support for workers

Canadians should not have to
worry about paying their rent or mortgage or buying groceries because of the
COVID-19 crisis. To support workers and their families, the Government of
Canada is taking action to:

Provide
additional assistance to families with children by temporarily boosting
Canada Child Benefit payments. This measure would deliver almost $2
billion in extra support.

Introduce an Emergency
Care Benefit of up to $900 bi-weekly for up to 15 weeks to provide income support to workers who must
stay home and do not have access to paid sick leave. This measure could
provide up to $10 billion to Canadians, and includes:

Workers, including the self-employed,
who are sick, quarantined, or who have been directed to
self-isolate but do not qualify for Employment Insurance (EI) sickness
benefits.

Workers, including the self-employed, who are taking care of a family
member who is sick with COVID-19, such as an elderly parent or other dependents
who are sick, but do not qualify for EI sickness benefits.

EI-eligible and non EI-eligible working
parents who must stay home without pay because of children who are sick or who need
additional care because of school closures.

Introduce an Emergency Support Benefit
delivered through the Canada Revenue Agency to provide up to $5 billion in
support to workers who are not eligible for EI and who are facing
unemployment.

Provide additional assistance to individuals
and families with low and modest incomes with a special top-up payment
under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) credit. This measure would inject
$5.5 billion in the economy.

Waive, for a minimum of six months, the
mandatory one-week waiting period for EI sickness benefits for workers in
imposed quarantine or who have been directed to self-isolate, as announced
on March 11.

Waive the requirement for a medical
certificate to access EI sickness benefits.

Extend the tax filing deadline for individuals to June 1, and allow all
taxpayers to defer, until after August
31, 2020,
the payment of any income tax amounts that become owing on or after today and
before September 2020. This relief would apply to tax balances due, as well as
instalments, under Part I of the Income
Tax Act. No interest or penalties
will accumulate on these amounts during this period. This measure will result in households
having more money available during this period.

Provide eligible small businesses a 10 per cent wage subsidy for the
next 90 days, up to a maximum of $1,375 per employee and $25,000 per employer. Employers
benefiting from this measure would include corporations eligible for the small
business deduction, as well as not-for-profit organisations and charities. This will help employers keep people on their
payroll and help Canadians keep their jobs.

Provide increased
flexibility to lenders to defer mortgage payments on homeowner
government-insured mortgage loans to borrowers who may be experiencing
financial difficulties related to the outbreak. Insurers will permit
lenders to allow payment deferral beginning immediately.

In addition, to provide targeted support for vulnerable groups, the
Government is investing to:

Reduce minimum withdrawals from Registered
Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) by 25 per cent for 2020 in
recognition of volatile market conditions and their impact on many
seniors’ retirement savings.

Implement a six-month, interest-free,
moratorium on Canada Student Loan payments for all individuals who are in
the process of repaying these loans.

Provide $305 million for a new
distinctions-based Indigenous Community Support Fund, to address immediate
needs in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation communities.

Support women and
children fleeing violence by providing up to $50 million to women’s
shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to manage
or prevent an outbreak in their facilities. This includes funding for
facilities in Indigenous communities.

Provide an additional $157.5 million to
address the needs of Canadians experiencing homelessness through the Reaching
Home program.

Support for businesses

In the face of an uncertain economic situation and tightening credit conditions, the Government is
taking action to help affected businesses. To
support Canadian businesses and help them retain their workers during this
difficult time, the Government is announcing measures to:

Allow all businesses to defer, until after August 31, 2020, the payment
of any income tax amounts that become owing on or after today and before September
2020. This relief would apply to tax balances due, as well as instalments,
under Part I of the Income Tax Act.
No interest or penalties will accumulate on these amounts during this period. This
measure will result in businesses having more money available during this
period.

Increase the credit available to small, medium,
and large Canadian businesses. As announced on March 13, a new Business
Credit Availability Program will provide more than $10 billion of
additional support to businesses experiencing cash flow challenges through the Business Development
Bank of Canada and Export
Development Canada. The Government is ready to provide more capital through these
financial Crown corporations.

Further expand Export Development
Canada’s ability to provide support to domestic businesses.

Provide flexibility on
the Canada Account limit, to allow the Government to provide additional
support to Canadian businesses, when deemed to be in the national interest,
to deal with exceptional circumstances.

Augment credit available
to farmers and the agri-food sector through Farm Credit Canada.

Launch an Insured
Mortgage Purchase Program to purchase up to $50 billion of insured
mortgage pools through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
As announced on March 16, this will provide stable funding to banks and
mortgage lenders and support continued lending to Canadian businesses and
consumers. CMHC stands ready to further support liquidity and the
stability of the financial markets through its mortgage funding programs
as necessary. The Government will enable these measures by raising CMHC’s
legislative limits to guarantee securities and insure mortgages by $150
billion each.

The six largest financial
institutions in Canada have made a commitment to work with personal and small
business banking customers on a case-by-case basis to provide flexible
solutions to help them manage through challenges, such as pay disruption due to
COVID-19, childcare disruption due to school or daycare closures, or those
suffering from COVID-19. As a first step, this support will include up to a
six-month payment deferral for mortgages, and the opportunity for relief on
other credit products. The Government of Canada will continue to monitor
evolving economic conditions and seek greater relief measures should it be
necessary.

In order to move forward with implementing these new measures needed to
provide timely support for Canadians and to ensure the Government has every
tool at its disposal to address potential challenges that may arise, the
Government intends to introduce special legislation and seek the approval of
Parliament.

The Government of Canada will continue to take further action as required to prioritize the health and safety of Canadians, stabilize the economy, and mitigate the economic impact of this pandemic.